


Is This Okay?

by baekinator



Series: Is This Okay? [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ??? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Author!Lance, Fan!Keith, M/M, Psychic!Allura, Reincarnation, a lot of fluff, and one sad part, basically fluff, major character death in the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 10:19:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10091993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekinator/pseuds/baekinator
Summary: Lance dreams of the past and decides to publish a series of novels based on those dreams. At the final book signing he opens to the title page of a fan's copy to see "I'm sorry I took so long" written.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the tumblr prompt by silentpeaches: You become a writer and your series of novels become extremely popular, but what they don’t know is that you’re retelling your previous life where certain circumstances made it so you and your soulmate did not end up together but your soulmate promises to be with you the next lifetime. At a book signing you open the book cover of a fan’s copy to see something written on the front page: “I’m sorry I took so long.”
> 
> I tried.
> 
> Edited 3/6/17: Typos begone.

Lance was 8 when the dreams started, small glimpses of worlds beyond his and a giant flying blue robotic lion. His parents and teachers chalked it up to his wild imagination when he claimed he was a hero defending the universe from the evil purple kitty-cat race. 

_________________________________________

 

When Lance was 12 he met Hunk on the first day of Junior High. They were partnered up and shared a work station in science class. Lance immediately befriends him and declares them best bros.

That night Lance dreams of Hunk. They fight side-by-side to defend the castle from the Galra, aka the evil purple kitty-cat race. There are other lions now. Along with his blue lion, there is a yellow, green, black, and red one. Hunk pilots the yellow one. He doesn't get to see the others just yet but his attention wanders to the red lion every now and then.

The next day Lance decides to mention his dream to Hunk. Hunk doesn't know what he’s talking about but says it's a nice story anyways. 

Later on Lance thanks Hunk for inspiring him to start writing his "stories".

_________________________________________

 

By the time Lance is 16 he has filled multiple journals with his dreams. He went out on a whim and decided to submit one of the stories for an English assignment. He fears that his story was too "out there". That a team of five teenagers becoming pilots of five robotic lions and when they unite they form Voltron, a mighty warrior rumored to be the defender of the universe. However, Mr. Coran loved it and asked if there was more to the story. 

Because of Mr. Coran's class, Lance was able to dive a little deeper and discover two more members of team Voltron. Princess Allura of Altea and her quirky adviser. Mr. Coran was beside himself when Lance names the adviser after him. Lance doesn't have the heart to tell him that he didn't name the character after him on purpose, that it was really the character’s name in the dream. 

_________________________________________

 

When Lance was 18 he fell in love only to have his heart broken. He literally fell for the man of his dreams. Said man's name was Keith and is the pilot of the red lion. 

If anyone had told either dream Lance or the real Lance that they would have developed feelings for his long-time (one-sided-rival), he would have laughed himself silly.

But there he was, pining after Keith with his dumb mullet hair and he wasn't even real. Honestly, it was because of his one-sided rivalry that he started to like Keith anyways. He spent a lot of time thinking about ways to beat Keith. Therefore, he spent a lot of time thinking about Keith in general. Lance would tease Keith so he could watch him get riled up. He would tease him about how much he trained and about his mullet. After some time, the teasing come off less as insults and more as praise. Lance admired how much time and effort Keith put into training. He also like to admire how his hair looked plastered to the back of his neck and forehead when he finished training. 

_________________________________________

 

It's the day before they head off to college when Lance tells Hunk about his feelings. They're laying out on Lance's roof outside his bedroom window, staring up at the night sky. Hunk is quite for a while and Lance is chewing on his bottom lip wishing he never brought it up. Just when he is about to tell Hunk to forget he ever said anything Hunk speaks up.

"If I spent a fraction of the time dreaming about what you do or even writing about those dreams, I would have fallen in love with one, if not all, of the characters too."

Lance lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and turns to see Hunk already looking at him. He must of have a look of disbelief on his face because Hunk lets out a laugh and says,

"What? You thought that I wouldn't believe you? That I would have laughed at you and ran for the hills? If I didn't run when you talked me into blowing up the science lab back in Junior High, what makes you think I would run now?"

For the first time, Lance is speechless. He is torn between if he wants to let loose the tears he has been holding back or if he wants to tackle his best friend and hug him with everything he has.

He decides to do both.

Hunk just laughs and hugs Lance just as tight. 

"What's wrong with you buddy? This isn't like you."

Lance lets out a choked laugh and rubs his snotty nose against Hunk's shoulder.

"Lance! Stop that! That’s gross."

Lance pulls back and they settled back on the roof and continue looking at the night sky. After a moment of silence Lance whispers "thanks, Hunk".

"Anytime, Lance." 

_________________________________________

 

When Lance is 22 he graduates college. His adviser introduced him to an old colleague of theirs and they are in the talks of possibly publishing his stories. He will have to revamp them of course and make them book worthy, but that will be easy. He has enough material written already for 3 full-length novels and his dreams show no signs of stopping. 

Lance is still very much in love with his character Keith. Sometimes when he wakes up he searches for the other side of the bed for a ghost who was never there.

He has tried everything to "forget" about Keith. From having short-lived relationships to stop recording down his dreams. The latter was the worse. The dream had repeated itself. Dream Lance was stuck in an endless loop for being separated from the team. The feeling of desperation and anxiety creeping its way into his waking hours on top of the feeling he was denying a part of himself was too much. After 2 weeks of ignoring his journals, the moment Lance picked up the newest one, a rush of relief flooded his body. A feeling that said "home at last."

Lance has since accepted his fate and come to terms with the fact that he is love with a fictional character, his fictional character at that. If not for Hunk, Lance would be lost. Hunk is his rock and whenever the line between his dreams and reality begin to blur, Hunk is there for him. He is there with his open arms and his never ending supporting self.

_________________________________________

 

The day before Lance's 23rd birthday he receives a phone call from his publicist giving him the green light on his book series and they set a date to go over the finer details. Lance all but throws himself onto his bed and does a celebratory spazz. He shoots Hunk a text to bring home some beer and be prepared to fix Lance both a birthday dinner and a congratulations dinner. 

Hunk responds back seconds later with a congrats and asks if "food goo" is alright for tonight. Lance confirms and lays his phone down. He turns over on his side and digs out his latest journal from underneath his pillow. Last night's dream was pretty lackluster when it came to plot, but there was some major development between him and Keith.

They just released a planet from out of Zarkon's, the leader of the Galra, control. They are currently celebrating on this planet and they have been given some kind of drink that could only be compared to an alcoholic Earth drink. Both Lance and Keith have had a few and Lance convinced Keith to dance with him. They danced through two songs before a slow song began to play. Lance had turned to walk off the dance floor when Keith grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around.

Once they were face-to-face, Keith placed both hands on Lance's hip. His face was flushed a pretty pink and Lance couldn't help but think how gorgeous he was.

Lance must have been staring because the blush on Keith’s face deepened and he lets out and awkward cough, "Is this okay?"

Lance nods his head and brings his arms up to clasp his hands behind Keith's neck. He can feel the heat radiating off his own face and his heart is about to beat its way right out his chest. But when Keith smiles that tiny smile of his, everything seems to click in place.

When Lance woke up that morning he swore he could still feel Keith's hands on his hips and the effect of that drink still coursing through his system.

_________________________________________

 

Lance is 23 when he publishes the first book in "The Voltron Chronicles". The series is set to have six books and will tell the story of five teenagers who became pilots of the legendary space warrior known as Voltron. With the help of Princess Allura and her advisor Coran, Lance the pilot of the blue lion, Hunk the pilot of the yellow lion, Pidge the pilot of the green lion, Keith the pilot of the red lion, and Shiro the pilot of the black lion work together to defend the universe from Zarkon and Galra race. 

_________________________________________

 

It's not till after Lance publishes his second book when things began to pick up. He can't exactly pinpoint the when and how but he expects that it had to with a book talk done by the bubbly YouTuber. All he knows is that one morning he wakes up and he suddenly has 60k followers on both Twitter and Instagram.

He flings off his covers and runs into Hunk's room across the hall. He leaps on the bed and scares the sleeping man awake.

"HUNK! LOOK!" Lance shouts and shoves his phone in the other face. "People love my books! They really love my books!"

Lance is still jumping while Hunk tries to read and pretty soon Hunk is up and jumping on the bed as well. 

"Congratulation Lance! You deserve all the love that these people are giving you."

After some time, they both collapse back on the bed and between breathes Lance says "It is even more real now. I knew other people besides you and my family read them, but it wasn't anything to this extent."

Hunk lets out a breathless laugh, "What are you going to do now?"

Lance turns and grins at him, "I'm going to continue dreaming."

______________________________________

 

When Lance is 26 he publishes the fourth book of the series and the deadline for the outline of the fifth book is coming up. Since Hunk moved out a couple months ago to live with his fiancé, he is on the hunt for a new writing niche. 

He's walking down the street when a little hole in the wall shop catches his eye. More like it was the name of the shop that catches his eye.  
‘Allura's Psychic Reading’. 

It's not every day Lance sees the name of this particular character of his floating around. Out of pure curiosity he decides to enter the shop. The bell tinkers as he opens and closes the door behind him and a woman in the back of the store calls out, "be with you in a sec".

Lance uses the time to explore. The shop is relatively organized. There are trinkets littering the shelves, a bookshelf filled with candles, and a glass case filled with crystals. He’s reading the chart about the crystals when a voice speaks up behind him.

"I'm sorry about that, is there anything I can help you with?"

Lance turns around and is about to decline the offer when the words die in his throat. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect when he came in the store, but he wasn't expecting to see the princess, his character from his dreams, standing right in front of him. But yet here she was, her long starlight hair pulled back on top of her head and those striking blue eyes looking straight at him. It was as if she literally walked out of his dreams.

Recognition flashed through her eyes and she gave a soft smile, "Lance, you're here".

"Y-you know me?" Lance stutters. 

"As you know me."

"How is this possible?"

"How indeed."

Allura turns and walks toward the door. "I believe we should sit down and have a chat," she says as she flips the open sign to closed. 

Lance stares numbly after her as she moves behind the counter and pushes the curtains aside to reveal another room. She gives him that soft smiles again, "Shall we?"

Lance nods his head and follows after her. The new room is small but comfortable looking. There are two large chairs sitting opposite of one another with a table between them. Allura motions for him to sit and ask if he would like some tea. 

Lance sits and his mind is racing. How is this possible? Hunk is just a coincidence, right? It's not weird to dream about friends, right? But Allura is here? 

Lance doesn't notice Allura is back until she sets a cup down in front of him and takes a sit across from him. He pushes the cup to the side and Allura looks up at him and with all seriousness he can muster Lance says "So Princess, how are you diggin' the ears?"

Allura gives him a puzzled look and is about to say something when the realization hits her and she bursts out laughing. Lance can't help but smile as she wipes away a tear.  
"That is the first thing you say to me? 'How are you diggin' the ears?' Really, Lance?"

"If I recall correctly, Princess, one of the first things you said to me was the fact that mine were hideous."

"Allura."

"What?" Lance ask confused. 

"Call me Allura. I'm not a Princess in this life."

This is really happening, Lance thinks. This is really Allura sitting across from him. 

"I'm sure you have questions."

"You could say that."

Allura laughs and pulls out a deck of cards and begins to shuffle them, "Would you like a reading?"

Lance nods and she hands the deck to him. "Shuffle them or spread them out. Do what calls to you but keep your question very direct."

Lance begins to shuffle the deck careful not to harm the cards. The cards are worn but well-loved, and the artwork is simple but elegant with rich blues and purples. 

Lance struggles with picking just one question and decides to lay the card down on the table and slowly moves them around a bit. He glances up to Allura who keeps her eyes on the deck. Chewing on his bottom lip Lance decides to stop avoiding the question he really wants to ask. He looks back down at the cards and thinks of one word.

One name. 

Keith.

Lance's left palm begins to tingle. 

"Pick up three cards that call to you and lay them in front of you."

Lance immediately picks up the one his left hand is touching. He looks back at the cards and begins to scan over them. A card that is half hidden catches his eye, he picks it up and places it next to the first card. Looking back to the deck he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes and thinks of Keith. The way he smiles and the way his right eye would begin to twitch when Lance starts to get on his nerves. He opens his eyes and goes for a card that is laying off to his right. He picks it up and lays it next to the other two.

"Now flip them over starting with the one on your left."

Lance does as she says and flips them over. He glances back up at Allura as she studies the cards. After a moment she looks up at him and smiles. 

"You've done well, Lance."

"What do they say?" He asks impatiently. 

Allura chuckles and motions to the card on the left "your past, this card tells what has led you to your question."

Lance glances down as she continues, "The High Priestess is a mystical force and she knows you cannot truly be you without searching for yourself. She has been speaking to you through your dreams. Like me, you dream of things you do not truly understand. That is the language of the High Priestess. Through your books, you have taken a deeper look at what your unconscious is trying to tell you but you've not looked in all of the right places."

She moves to the middle card. "The present. Strength. This card shows that you have been strong, but you're not done yet. The question you asked won't physically appear soon and you will grow weary. This card asks for you to remain strong."

Then she motions to the last card, "The future. Ten of cups. Joy, peace and family. Ten of Cups represent deep happiness with relationships in your life. When the times comes embrace it because perfection is a moment, not a lifestyle. That moment will hold you through the tough times and will help you manifest the Ten of cups again."

Lance looks up and locks eyes with Allura, "The answer to your question is yes Lance, you will see him again."

Lance visibly relaxes and does everything in his power not to cry. 

Allura continues, "I can't promise it will be easy, but it will happen. You guys are soulmates and you promised to find each other again."

Puzzled, "Soulmates?" Lance asks. 

Allura shakes her head, "I can't begin to explain how the universe works. But I can tell you that I know you, and I know Keith. I know soulmates when I see them."

Lance tears up a bit and wipes his eyes before they even have a chance to fall. 

I'm going to see Keith again, Lance thinks. Not just dream Keith, but the real Keith. 

Lance jumps up and runs around to the other side of the table and pulls Allura into his arms. He whispers thank you repeatedly and she hugs him a bit tighter each time. When he pulls back both him and Allura are teary-eyed. 

"So Allura," Lance starts "are you a fan of my books or what? Because I can totally autograph them for you no questions asked."

Allura laughs and swats at his arm, "just when I think I miss you, you go and say something dumb."

Lance winks at her "You know you love me, Princess"

Allura smiles, "I do."

_________________________________________

 

Lance is 27 when he dreams of the end. He wakes up drenched in sweat, the covers completely kicked off the bed and tears are streaming down his face. 

They did it. They defeated Zarkon. One would think this would call for a celebration, but not this time. There will always be casualties when you're in the line of action. Even if you are a paladin of Voltron.

The fight had been close even right up to the end. They were tired, both mentally and physically. Keeping Voltron together was mentally taxing but they pushed forward. Shiro was shouting commands while Allura and Coran was providing back up from the castle.

"Come on team, this is our last shot. This will be the last shot needed to defeat Zarkon."

They put everything they had into the blast and when it was released it was met with a blast of Zarkon's own. They pushed forward, their will never wavering. Lance could feel the effect it was taking on Voltron. He felt like he was being torn apart and just when he thought he was going to be ripped to shreds the force receded and he pushed it forward into the blast. Zarkon’s war machine wavered and then all at once everything exploded.

The war machine exploded, the space around them exploded, and even Voltron exploded.

They were pulled apart and sent flying in different directions. He tried to regain control but Blue was offline and the emergency alarms were blaring. 

"Come on Blue, wake up!" Lance frantically worked to bring her back. He wasn’t paying attention. He was trying to bring Blue back online so he didn't have a chance to brace for impact. 

What he did notice was the sudden searing pain and then everything was black. 

_______________________________________________

 

When Lance comes to, everything hurts and he can’t feel his lower body. He doesn’t hear Blue’s emergency alarms anymore, but he can feel the ground slightly shaking beneath him. When he opens his eyes he has to squint them against the bright lights of the med-bay and sees that the shaking isn’t caused by Blue or by a med-bay bed, but because Keith is shaking and he is in Keith's arms. 

Strange, Lance thinks. This reminds him of the "I cradled you in my arms" time. But maybe a little more drastic. He can see the rest of the team crowding around with tight looks on their faces. He opens his mouth to ask what's wrong but chokes on what he thinks is his own spit. Spit that taste awfully like blood. 

Keith jerks his head up at the sound and Lance realizes two things. One, he is dying. Two, Keith is a pretty crier. Of course, the mullet-head would be a pretty crier. 

Numbly, Lance brings a shaky hand up and wipes away the tears only to leave a trail of blood in its wake. 

"Shhh, don't cry Keith." Lance coughs and spits up some blood, "everything will be alright."

Keith just shakes his head and the crease between his eyes deepen. Lance does his best to look at everyone. Hunk is on the ground behind Keith, tears streaming down his face and snot running out of his nose. Pidge is hiding behind him with their face shoved into the other's shoulder, but Lance can see their shoulders shaking. Shiro is to the left, his normally composed face broken with red-rimmed eyes. Allura is holding onto Shiro's arm like it's a lifeline and shaking her head. Coran is in the background shouting something about the cyropod, but even he knows it's too late. 

Oh, how Lance wished he could talk to them. To tell them to take care of his family for him. To hit on Allura one last time so that Pidge and Shiro would roll their eyes. To tell them a joke so that he could see Hunk and Keith laugh one last time. Oh, how he wished. 

He looks back up at Keith and brings the other hand up, ignoring the blood that coats this hand as well. He wipes the tears away again and thinks back to the night they dance. 

"Is this okay?" He whispers, mimicking the question Keith asked him that night. 

Keith lets out a choked sob at that. Lance is starting to see spots and it's getting harder to breathe. 

"I-" he starts, but the words refuse to forms. 

"Me too," Keith says quickly.

Lance can only make out his eyes now. Those steel-purple eyes that he loves so much. 

"I will find you again, Lance. You hear me? I will find you.”

Lance isn't' sure what Keith means by that, but he musters up all the strength he has left, "Please do, pretty boy".

_______________________________________________

 

This is the last fan signing Lance will ever attend that is entirely devoted to "The Voltron Chronicles". It's bittersweet really. When Lance first brought the draft for the final book to his publicist, they couldn't believe it and tried their best to reject it. But Lance wouldn't budge, he wanted- no he needed to stay true to his dream, to 'his' story. Fans were outraged in all the right ways. Especially Hunk. 

Lance shakes his head and laughs at the memory of Hunk's reaction. He had stormed to Lance's apartment and about beat his door down at 3 a.m. when he finished the book. He ranted and raved and cried all over Lance. 

"It was almost like watching you die. It was too real!" Hunk exclaimed.

Lance bites his cheek to keep from saying "but you did watch me die" but asked if he approved of the ending instead. 

"No! Yes! It was depressingly beautiful. I'm glad that Lance's and Blue's bond was so strong that in the end, after Lance died, we were able to see through Blue's eye. I needed to know what happened afterward."

"I'm glad you liked it."

"I still hate you! My heart was literally breaking. I'm surprised you didn't hear me crying all the way over here. “

Lance snapped out of it when a knock on the door came and his publicist sticks their head in. "It's show time, Lance."

He stands up and straightens his clothes, takes a deep breath and walks out. He is immediately deafened by the roar of the fans. Lance smile and waves at them as he joins the host on stage. They have a quick meet and greet session planned. They discuss future projects and the host asked him to confirm if the rumors about planning to come back to the world of Voltron is true or not. The audience lets out a depressed sigh when Lance confirms that it was just that, a rumor. Fans then were given a chance to pass around the mic and ask questions. Most of them asked him about the ending and what made him end it the way he did. 

“I didn’t end it. The story ended itself.” Lance explains, “No matter how many drafts and outlines you make, the story will always take control and you lose yourself. You do what it says and you have no say so.”

After the meet and greet session is over, he is whisked away to the signing table. Fans are lined up all round the venue and he falls into a routine. Who to make it out to, small talk, thank you for reading my books, and repeat. 

His hand feels like it’s about to fall off and his cheeks hurt from smiling so much. He takes a peak at the line and thanks the heavens. The end of the line is in sight. 

He looks back up to the girl who is currently standing in front of him, both thanks and apologizes to her for waiting so long. She blushes as she takes the signed book from his hands and runs away. 

He motions for the next person in line to come up and hand him the book. A pair of hands with finger-less gloves hand over the book and Lance notices that the dust jacket is worn in a few places already. 

"Who should I make this out to?" He asks as he opens the book. 

"Keith."

Lance has conditioned himself not to react to the name in times like this. Keith is a popular name and he will only be disappointed. 

"You got it," he says as he finds the title page. He is about to sign his name when the notices a messy scrawl underneath the title. He pauses and has to squint his eyes to read it, but when he does his stomach drops and his grip slackens. 

"I'm sorry I took so long", the familiar handwriting says. 

Lance's eyes closes in on the finger-less gloves. 

It can't be.

Slowly he trails his eyes up the man in front of him and locks eyes with those steel-purple ones he has only seen in his dreams

"Keith," Lance says breathlessly. Is this really Keith?

The words that come out of Keith's mouth next has Lance up and out of the seat to gathering the other man into his arms. 

"Is this okay?"

**Author's Note:**

> -I want to thank both Heather and my sister for being super supportive and reading this mess of words even though they aren't in fandom.  
> -I want to apologize for this mess. This is the first time I've ever completed a fic and honestly I'm quite proud of it.  
> -PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what you think. Be it good, bad, anything. I want to know.  
> -That includes typos. I'm the worlds worst for those.  
> -Thinking writing Keith's POV? Thoughts?  
> -I used Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven's Prophecy Tarot as a reference for the tarot card reading.  
> -Talk to me on Twitter? @thievingdreams  
> -Runs and hides.


End file.
